Gastrobronchial Fistula Following a Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy

Abstract

BACKGROUND Bariatric operations have been gaining more ground over the past decade. The most commonly used bariatric operation is the laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. A complication of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy is gastric leak; which can rarely cause a primary subphrenic abscess and a secondary diaphragm rupture that will lead eventually to a gastrobronchial fistula. CASE REPORT We present the case of a 32-year-old patient who started having symptoms suggestive of gastrobronchial fistula at 2 months following laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. CONCLUSIONS The treatment of a gastrobronchial fistula is controversial as this complication is rarely covered in published studies. Our expert opinion for this patient case was to opt for a surgical approach seeing that the complexity and severity of the fistula had a low chance of subsiding after only conservative measures.